Mag-log inDRAVEN“Left.”Darius didn’t slow down when he said it. He just turned sharply into the corridor like he already knew I’d be right behind him.I was.We moved fast, but not recklessly. Every step was controlled, every turn calculated. The packhouse wasn’t unfamiliar to us, but tonight it felt different. Or maybe that was just Malrik.“You’re sure it’s this way?” I asked quietly.Darius didn’t look back. “I can feel her.”That made something in my chest tighten.“I thought you said the bond was weak.”“It is,” he replied, his voice clipped. “Doesn’t mean it’s gone.”Fair enough.We took another turn. The further we went, the quieter it got. Fewer guards. Fewer voices. That alone was enough to tell me we were getting closer to somewhere important.“Too quiet,” I muttered.Darius huffed softly. “You complain when there are too many guards, now you’re complaining when there are none.”“I’m saying it’s wrong.”“I know.”That was the problem.We both knew it.A shadow moved at the far end o
DARIUSLyra stood at the entrance like she had all the time in the world.That alone told me something was wrong.Or rather… something was about to go very right.Draven didn’t move, but I felt the shift in him instantly. The way his body went still, the way his gaze locked onto her like he was measuring the distance between where he stood and how fast he could get to the door if this turned into something else.“Close the door,” he said quietly.Lyra raised a brow. “No ‘hello’? No ‘thank you for coming to rescue us from this charming little dungeon’?”“Lyra,” I said, my tone flat, “close the door.”She sighed like we were inconveniencing her, then nudged it shut with her foot. The click echoed through the room, and just like that, the space felt smaller again.Selene stepped in behind her.She didn’t speak at first. Her eyes moved over us—slow, precise, taking in everything. The collars. The restraints. The tension sitting on our shoulders like we were seconds away from tearing the p
DARIUSThe first thing I noticed was the silence.Not the kind you get when a room is empty, but the kind that presses in on you, thick and suffocating, like the walls themselves are waiting for you to break.I sat with my back against the cold stone, one knee drawn up slightly as I tried to steady my breathing. It wasn’t working. Every inhale felt wrong, like something inside me wasn’t aligning the way it should.Across from me, Draven didn’t sit.He paced.Back and forth, slow at first, then sharper, restless, like he was trying to burn through whatever restraint still held him together. His shoulders were tense, his jaw locked, his hands curling into fists every few seconds like he was imagining tearing something apart.Or someone.The collar around his neck caught the dim light every time he moved.I hated the sight of it.I hated the one on mine even more.I shifted slightly, the metal pressing uncomfortably against my skin, the faint hum of whatever power it held crawling under
AURORAThe silence in Malrik’s chambers didn’t feel empty.It felt deliberate.Like the room itself was watching me, waiting to see what I would do next.I stood where they had left me, right in the middle of the space, my arms wrapped tightly around myself as if that could somehow hold me together. It didn’t. Nothing did.The longer I stayed here… the worse it got.It wasn’t just the absence of sound.It was their absence.Draven.Darius.The bond didn’t disappear completely, and that was the problem. If it had, maybe I could have convinced myself it was all in my head. Maybe I could have ignored it.But it was still there, faint and distant. Like something just out of reach no matter how hard I tried to grasp it.My chest tightened again, that same hollow ache spreading slowly, like something inside me was stretching too far without anything to anchor it.I exhaled shakily.“Stop it,” I muttered under my breath, pressing my palm harder against my chest as if I could physically forc
AURORAI didn’t struggle as they dragged me through the halls.Not because I couldn’t but because I already understood that this was all Malrik’s plan and I fell into it. Fighting now wouldn’t save me. It wouldn’t bring them back. It wouldn’t undo what had just happened.The damage was already done.My feet dragged slightly against the stone floor as they pulled me forward, their grip tight around my arms like I might snap at any moment.Maybe I would have… a few minutes ago.Now? I just felt… empty.The further we moved, the worse it got.At first, I thought it was just exhaustion. The aftermath of everything that had just happened. The surge of power. The chaos. The fear.But it wasn’t that.It was something else. Something was missing.My breath caught slightly as I slowed.The guards didn’t notice or maybe they didn’t care.But I felt it. A hollow pull in my chest. It wasn't sharp or painful, it just felt wrong. Like something that had been there moments ago had suddenly been ri
AURORAThe moment the elders hit the wall, everything fell apart.Gasps filled the room. Some of the wolves stepped back immediately like I had just turned into something monstrous right in front of them. Others froze completely, eyes wide, like they couldn’t decide if they should run or attack.I didn’t move.I couldn’t.My chest rose and fell too fast, my fingers trembling slightly as I stared at what I had just done.The elders were on the floor because of me. “I didn’t—” My voice came out hoarse. “I didn’t mean to—”“Restrain her.”The command cut through the room before I could finish.My head snapped up.The elder who spoke wasn’t shouting. He didn’t need to. The fear in his eyes said enough.“She has proven exactly what we feared,” he continued, pushing himself up slowly with the help of another elder. “She is unstable.”Something twisted painfully in my chest.“I’m not—”“Enough,” another elder snapped, her voice sharper this time. “You attacked the council.”“I didn’t attack
AURORAThe cave had never felt this cold before. It wasn't the type of cold that crept into my bones and across my skin, it wasn't the kind that made my teeth chatter or my fingers go numb. I felt the cold deep inside my chest and I woke up with a startled gasp. It wasn't a dream, the cold was wra
MALRIKI hated the fact that the summons couldn't be sent as a mindlink because it could be ignored now and my bond to the pack wasn't strong enough. So instead, we used the old ways, sounding the war horns, the ancient call rolling through the packhouse like thunder trapped inside a cavern. It v
AURORADraven’s grip on my arm tightened.“Move,” he whispered again.The urgency in his voice snapped me out of the strange trance Luna’s words had pulled me into. My chest was still tight as we hurried out of the torture room and back into the corridor.Behind us, the heavy door creaked softly as
ELIJAH“It’s time,” I said.We didn’t move all at once. We broke apart the way Marcus had instructed.We broke into groups of two slipping out through the back alley one after the other like shadows that didn’t want to be seen. We all wore hoods and lowered our faces. The bottles of Veronica’s bre







